First Look At Stephen King's The Mist TV Show Is Pretty Creepy

Recent years have delivered a mixed bag when it comes to TV adaptations of horror master Stephen King's work, as it goes. With Hulu's 11.22.63, Syfy's Haven, CBS' Under the Dome and TV movies like Big Driver and Bag of Bones, television viewers haven't seen a truly terrifying King adaptation in ages. Enter The Mist, Spike's take on the supernatural novella, which just dropped its bass-pounding and edit-heavy first trailer. Though it looks like a lot of other stuff, particularly The Mist film, it's just creepy enough. Check it out!

By "jump in," I obviously mean "jump into a helicopter at the next sign of a light fog." I can't argue with anyone who has reservations after watching this trailer, since it hits upon not only all the usual horror tropes, but also all the usual trailer tropes. I get it, and yet I still love this story enough to maintain hope that its episode nature manages to expand the story and Stephen King's themes in an imaginative way. It's virtually impossible for the show to just trot out the same exact series of events every week, so I'm interested to see where writer and executive producer Christian Trope takes things.

For this TV reimagining that doesn't sound like it's taking zany liberties with the source material, The Mist will center on a family in a small Northeastern town that is affected by a brutal crime, and the aftermath of that crime will unfortunately involve a mysterious and widespread mist that starts rolling through the town and blocking its population off from the rest of civilization. Everyone in the town has to deal with surviving the mind-boggling threats lurking within the mist, but of course that isn't the least of their worries, since there are several people within the town that develop their own ulterior motives as things get worse.

For instance, there's the religious aspect that comes straight from the story, and that appears to be where we'll get to see The Mist at its strongest, since this is where the always fabulous Frances Conroy comes in, as well TV vet Dan Butler as the priest. The Wire's Isaiah Washington Jr. is also involved, and after seeing how relatively unknown much of the rest of the cast is, I can't help but be worried that both Conroy and Washington Jr. will be killed off in the first episode. (If it happens, I hope they at least go out in magnificently disgusting ways.) More recognizable faces in the trailer were Allegiance's Morgan Spector, Vikings' Alyssa Sutherland and Reign's Alexandra Ordolis, and you can bet they'll all be getting angry with each other as the season progresses.

The Mist obviously isn't on the level of The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones when it comes to the budget and special effects, and Spike is still new to putting scripted programming together. So we're not vaulting our expectations with this one, but I can't help but remain enthusiastic that Stephen King TV is at least headed back into the direction of horror. Another genre outlier will be the upcoming crime thriller Mr. Mercedes, but Hulu sounds like it has something promising going with its interconnected universe anthology series that's on the way. Of course, there's going to be an official big screen take on IT later this year, which we're probably most pumped (and worried) about.

So don't forget, constant readers (or viewers, as it were) to tune in to Spike on Thursday, June 22, to see The Mist roll through. While waiting, head to our midseason premiere schedule and our summer TV guide to see what's hitting the small screen soon.